Juliaan Joseph de Vriendt was a Belgian painter and politician who was known for religious and historical paintings and portraits.
As a politician he was involved in the Flemish Movement, being a prime instigator in getting Belgium to recognize Dutch as an official language in 1898, in addition to French.
Having received his early training from his father at Ghent, he moved to Antwerp, where he soon yielded to the influence of the painter Baron Henrik Leys. His later became director of the Academy of Fine Arts at Antwerp.
